December 9, 2004, on our regular
Tuesday/Thursday King's Mtn ride.
8:09am,
the scene of the (first) crime. While I'm working on replacing my
tube, Kevin decided the prior evening's rain didn't water things
enough. Apparently concerned about Rob (who borrowed my camera)
taking photos, he gesticulates some sort of fish story concerning
the size of a bear he spotted. Yeah, that must have been it. The
first flat was caused by a tiny piece of rock that appeared to have
been perfectly shaped into what looked like a pygmy-sized obsidian
arrow head.
8:25am and we're stopped again. I later discover the problem
was with a leaky valve stem from the prior tube replacement.
8:42am and we'd finally made it to the top of Skyline, only
to have Ueyn get a flat. Here he's displaying what to do with your
tube while you're wrestling with the rim & tire. Some would have
simply left the tube in the box until needed...
So how many guys does it take to repair
a flat tire? Apparently five, if you include one guy to take the
photos! In the big picture, from left to right, we have Rob, Karl,
Kevin and Ueyn.
8:58am
and I'm repairing my third flat (left-side photo), on Tunitas Creek.
This was after we'd abandoned the normal loop (heading out to Old
LaHonda west) and instead planned to do one of the dead-end roads
that heads west towards Neil Young's property.
9:15am and I'm fixing my final flat on Star Hill. At this
point I refused to put in another new tube, choosing instead to
repair the one previously installed. Thankfully, this was the last
flat of the day! Four flats in one ride (six if you count the two
Ueyn had) is just a bit much.
12/09/04- SO WHAT REALLY HAPPENS WHEN YOU
WAKE UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BED? I think I know
now. It causes you to make a wrong decision, the consequences of
which seem way out of proportion. This happened to me today, as I
woke up for my regular Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride, looked out the
window and saw that the roads were still wet. It hadn't rained in
several hours though, and the sun was making an effort to come out.
So did I really need to ride my rain bike? No way. Besides, what's
the worst that can happen? My 5900 needed an excuse for a good
cleaning anyway! What's the worst that can happen, indeed. Nice company today,
with Rob, Karl, Kevin & Ueyn showing up... and I even felt like I
was up to the challenge, probably because I was on my 5900, which
feels so much faster than the Iron Pig (my Cinelli rain bike).
And I was doing fine, until, just past the park entrance, I'm riding
on my rim. 8:09am, first flat. So we stop and replace my tube
and continue on our way. The adrenalin kicks in a bit (from what?)
and I'm feeling pretty darned good until... 8:25am, second flat,
near the open section on King's. OK, I don't get flats (Ueyn's
probably ridden with me over 50 times and never seen me get a flat),
maybe I'm due and this gets them out of the way for awhile?
So
I put in another new tube and we're on our way again. Sort of. At
the top of King's, Ueyn has a flat! Ueyn actually got two flats on
this ride, but I don't recall if this was his first or second; they
all began to blur into each other. In the photo, you can see his
remarkable using-teeth-as-3rd-hand technique to keep his tube off
the ground. It's now 8:42am, and we're thinking that maybe doing the
Old Lahonda loop might be a bit risky, so we opt for one of the
dead-end drop-into-hell roads that heads west from Skyline. Until
8:58am, when I get my third flat on Tunitas Creek (as we were
heading towards Star Hill). You've got to be kidding, I'm thinking
not-entirely-to-myself as I deal with replacing yet another tube in
the gray misty muck. But I replace it and gamely move on, making it
up over the small grade on Star Hill and heading down towards Native
Sons Road when, at 9:15am, flat number four!!! At this point
I wave the rest of the guys on (it's an out-and-back road anyway, so
if I'm stranded for some reason they'll be coming past again on the
way back) and, with Ueyn staying behind to make sure I didn't lose
my marbles, I removed the tube and found that it had probably been
damaged before it ever got into the tire and, in one of those
strange guy moments where you have to show an inanimate object who's
boss, I repaired it instead of replacing it with a new one. From there Ueyn & I rode back up to Skyline and down into
Woodside, without any further incident. I'm not sure, but I think
I've gotten my flats out of the way for some time... and also
learned a lesson about why one has a rain bike, with heavier,
tougher tires... and why you'd ride it when the roads are such a
mess, even though it's not raining out. Irrational acts of defiance,
particularly against the forces of nature, rarely seem to pay off!
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8:58am
and I'm repairing my third flat (left-side photo), on Tunitas Creek.
This was after we'd abandoned the normal loop (heading out to Old
LaHonda west) and instead planned to do one of the dead-end roads
that heads west towards Neil Young's property.
So
I put in another new tube and we're on our way again. Sort of. At
the top of King's, Ueyn has a flat! Ueyn actually got two flats on
this ride, but I don't recall if this was his first or second; they
all began to blur into each other. In the photo, you can see his
remarkable using-teeth-as-3rd-hand technique to keep his tube off
the ground. It's now 8:42am, and we're thinking that maybe doing the
Old Lahonda loop might be a bit risky, so we opt for one of the
dead-end drop-into-hell roads that heads west from Skyline. Until
8:58am, when I get my third flat on Tunitas Creek (as we were
heading towards Star Hill). You've got to be kidding, I'm thinking
not-entirely-to-myself as I deal with replacing yet another tube in
the gray misty muck. But I replace it and gamely move on, making it
up over the small grade on Star Hill and heading down towards Native
Sons Road when, at 9:15am, flat number four!!! At this point
I wave the rest of the guys on (it's an out-and-back road anyway, so
if I'm stranded for some reason they'll be coming past again on the
way back) and, with Ueyn staying behind to make sure I didn't lose
my marbles, I removed the tube and found that it had probably been
damaged before it ever got into the tire and, in one of those
strange guy moments where you have to show an inanimate object who's
boss, I repaired it instead of replacing it with a new one. 
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